Posts filed under: ‘Starbuck‘
Starbucks closings…Obama …Sir Barley
Since I see that so many people have come here to read about Starbucks closing of several of their stores, I decided to give you a bit more info on those closings.
But let me begin with this…I really can’t see myself paying $4.00 for a cup of anybody’s coffee. Sorry, Mr. Starbuck…but it is just the way it is. It’s…it is how I feel. I just can’t see it.
I know people are all wrapped up in image…but does holding a cup with ‘Starbucks’ logo really have more value than a cup with ‘Dunkin Donuts’ logo on it.
I mean all through the Decocratic Primaries…people were saying that Obama attracks the Starbuck crowd…and Hillary the Dunkin Donuts people. Huh????
Why all this division?
Breaking people down by coffee lines…it is all a bit too much.
Maybe it is just that I am not a coffee person.
My father being Jamaican…and Jamaica being a British Colony once upon a time…so what do the Brit’s drink? Tea, of course. And so that is what most Jamaicans drink…and Chinese too. So, our household is basically all tea drinkers…following right after daddy and our Jamaican hertiage and tradition. And it extends all the way down to daddy’s grand-children and great-grand children…and since they are basically still kids we haven’t gotten to the fourth generation yet. Who will also undoubtedly also mostly be a bunch of tea drinkers too, I am sure.
Starbucks has to have the record for being one of the fastest growing companies in America. I have never seen a company grown so fast.
But then they seem to have made all the right moves in the beginning. They started off with statilite stores…branched off into deals where they went into places like Virgin Records and other high traffic locations which proved to be excellent decisions for them. Because people who purchase $13/$15 CD’s certainly also have enough to buy a $4.00 cup of coffee. And they did.
Starbucks a Seattle based company has 7,100 company owned stores across the country. Some time this year the company plans to close 600 of its under producing stores. Which means they will be laying off some 12,000 employees…which the company says it will try to place as many of them as possible at other store locations.
In February of this year, Starbucks fired some 600 other employees and is currently periodically shutting down stores during some regular business hours in order to do some re-training of its employees.
It is probably safe to say…that if you work at a Starbucks that is inside a Barnes & Nobles or a Virgin Records location…or any high volume/high traffic area…your store will probably not be closing.
For a listing of the closing stores Click Link below.
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/USStoreClosureInfo.pdf
Or go to…
http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/pressdesc.asp?id=882
And to read more on the story via ABC News Click on the Link below.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/story?id=5288740
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Barack Obama is quite a family man…a man who clearly loves his wife and his children as is evident in his pictures with them, everytime you see him with his wife and in his comments concerning them. For such passion to extend itself into the public and political area is a gift to those of us who shall soon reap the rewards of it…which shall also be reaped by those of the whole world also when he becomes President of the United States of America in November of this year.
Clearly the people in Germany, France, England and Israel who gathered to hear him speak recognized that Obama is an extrodinary person…that kind of person only goes around once in a lifetime.
So, to have been on this planet to have seen and heard the likes of Dr. Martin L. King, Jr., John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Nelson Mandela etc. we can truly say that we have been blessed. Because we have truly be blessed to be here in the company of some very extra-ordinary people who have shown us what true love and commitment is all about.
Now, in walks Barack Obama.
From the time he hit the world stage at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. They saw it then…the press…they all saw it…and when he stepped from the stage they touted him ‘The Future of the Democratic Party.’
It was upon that stage as he addressed the members of the convention that Barack Obama literally looked out and saw his destiny. And from the moment he stepped off that stage he began working towards today and where he will be come November of this year, 2008…the President of the United States of America.
Some people don’t trust him because they look at him as not being black enough.
Others look at him and say he is too black.
The hispanic say he will only do for black people and forget about us.
It is quite clear that Barack Obama does not wish for his children or grand-children to inherit the chaos and fear that the Bush Administration has ushered into the United States.
He does not want his daughters…nor their children to live under the cloud of uncertainty
of what tomorrow may bring for this country or this world.
Through all of its current troubles, Barack Obama has chosen to shoulder the burden…to take on the responsibility of trying to right this country again…to rewrite the history of American that George Bush and his people so callously sought to undermind and undo.
When he left Harvard, he hit the streets of the ghetto working to undo social ills and injustices. It is in his nature to champion the cause of the people. When you read about his mother, you see that it runs in the blood…the seeking to unify the world and caring for others. It is what Barack Obama is all about.
This week in Germany, we got a chance to see that the world too sees something special in Barack Obama. To hear those people in Germany chant ‘change’ and call out his name was more than moving.
They say that Barack Obama doesn’t know enough. He has no experience…no. And they are right. He has not had any experience running with the liars and the cheats who have made up this country’s government for years.
This country needs somebody who isn’t down with the ‘crew.’ Somebody not afraid to make his own decisions. Not afraid to be wrong if he thinks it is in the best interest of this country. Not afraid of second guess himself and yet comtemplate the decision and 
its overall impact.
This country needs somebody who is not afraid to stand alone. Who is not afraid to say wrong is wrong.
Give me somebody young and yearning for training. Don’t give me somebody who thinks he already knows everything…and doesn’t know nothing.
I don’t care who goes into the White House or who has gone into it in past…they all had to learn on the job. It is not like going to work from one fast food place to another…or from one corporate office into another.
It is not…it is the White House…the Presidency.
Until you get voted in…you can’t possibly have all of or a fifth of the capabilities to do it. Most of it comes with on the job-training. For anybody to say anything else is a lie. No corporate CEO has ever been under the pressure of the President of the United States…nothing is like the job of being the President of this country.
Barack Obama not only looked Presidential in Germany…he spoke Presidential. He speaks with authority, leadership, knowledge and a zeal for this country that we have not heard for a very long time. Give me that any day…because I know the rest will follow.
Unlike any other President of this country…Barack Obama has lived as a child in several other countries. Having done so he understands other people, their language, their cultures…that 
gives him a greater sensitivity to other nations that no other President of this country could have possibly had. On the world stage or on domestic politics Barack Obama is head over heels beyond Senator John McCain. There is no contest.
For the problems that Bush has brought to America’s door…we are going to need somebody who can think outside of the box…not trying to hide within the box. But a real thinker and doer. Someone with temperance and perhaps even some tolerance…and between Hillary and Jesse Jackson…and Rev. Jeramiah Wright…Obama has shown lots of that. And certainly for one thing for sure it will, also, take more than politics as usual to straighten up the Bush messes that we are in.
Just a quick note on Charles Barley. Like Reggie Jackson and so many other athletes that chose to do for others, Charles Barley while recently out dining came across a young man who was waiting on his table whom he recognized was in need of some help…in order to go on to college. Barley stepped in and told the young man he would take care of 
his full college tuition…brings tears to my eyes. I love these kind of stories.
And I love Charles Barley in that television commercial…he is so annoying.
Great for you Charles Barley…and you can read more on this story by Clicking and Link below.
Okay, you China Olympics bound people…here is another Chinese word or saying…
Bu yong xie…pronounced Boo you shay… Remember that I told that ‘bu‘ is the Chinese negative… well, in this case too…but it depends upon what you want to say…
It translates into 2 meanings… 1. You’re welcome
2. No problem…
‘No problem’ is a popular saying or phrase in China.
If you remember ‘xie xie’… pronounced ‘sure shay’ ….meaning ‘thank you.’ then you recognize ‘xie’ (shay) in Bu yong xie, as well.
Ni hao….you are saying ‘hi’ to one person Nim hao…you are saying ‘hi’ to a group or more than one
Ni hao ma… Knee how ma …..it means hi, and how are you? or how are you doing.
Nim hao ma…means the exact same thing except you are addressing more than one person. And ‘nim‘….is pronounced as you think …as nimb.
Now, I am going to advance you a little bit….
Wu chew chin sway…. means I want water (this I forgot to write out in the actual Chinese spelling…I was great for sitting in class and writing down ‘what it sounds like’…it was the only way I could learn the language. Other than that…in less than 30 seconds I would forget).
So, this means ‘I want water’ but remember it is not written in the actual Chinese spelling…and of course the Chinese do not really write this stuff out….no. They use characters…or what we call Chinese characters. And you have seen what Chinese characters look like…but we have never been able to make them out…or knew that each character symbolizes a Chinese word…and there are thousands of characters…and some even have a gender…to reference male or female.
Now, you have learned something else. And remember that “wu” ….means ‘I’ or ‘me’… first person singular. pronounced “woo.”
Well, I am suppose to really be doing some work today. So, I better get to it.
Have a beautiful day… God bless…. ©2008
Add a comment July 26, 2008
Starbucks closing stores, Recession…
STARBUCKS…
What has to be one of fastest growing companies in America, Starbucks is announcing that it will be closing some of its stores and will let go of some 12,000 employees both full-time and part-time employees. Which, of course, as I mentioned after having visited Detroit…whenever I hear about companies downsizing I now think of what that means in terms of the people who will lose their jobs.
Though the Bush Administration refuses to call it a recession there can be no denying that the times are a bit harder for most folks…and the escalating gas prices does not make it any easier.
Though, however, while I was sitting in the convention last week and looking around at everyone, I was thinking that we, those of us in church, are looking at a time of increase. And that our lives differ in many ways from most people…simply because we are who we are…God’s people…His exclusive property. His elect.
I am reminded of that story of Joseph when he was asked to interpret Pharaoh’s’s dream. That dream was about 7 years of excess and 7 years of famine. Because Pharaoh respected that interpretation they were able to ride out those years of famine because they prepared for it.
Preparation is so important. We have to be prepared for anything and everything. It is the wise thing to do. The only point is…is that most of us live from day to day…with barely enough to make it into tomorrow. So, to say ‘we should save’ is nice but everybody just cannot afford to save anything because they simply do not make enough money…as they can barely make enough to meet their current daily needs much less try to put some away for a rainly day. And rainy days do come.
So, what do those people do?
Those people who lose their jobs and are not trained to do anything other than what they had done for the last 16 years. Who aren’t as computer savy and many of their jobs and past skills are now outdated. What do they do?
One way to off-set this…is to always look ahead. Never get in a situation where you feel comfortable that your situation will not change. Change comes every day. It can come in the form of new management, a new supervisor, corporate buy-outs, deaths, changing technologies etc…change…change…change.
We have got to be prepared for change.
We have got to keep updating our skills…learn computers…new softwares. And never lock yourself into one thing. Develop other skills and watch market trends…and make wise and good choices.
Prepare yourself for tomorrow.
Well, I’m going to get some sleep. I’ve got a lot to do tomorrow…I’m planning our big outdoor summer ministry affair. So, I have got to get this permit signed by the Chief of the Fire Deptment, the city public works people, the police department, public health department etc…etc… And then I have to start calling people to get them locked in…not to mention work on creating our flyers and other media info. So, yes…I will be busy tomorrow.
This is for that ENTREPRENEUR in You….
And oh, yes…I’m buying a very large grill figured I need to raise some money for our event so I have decided to start selling rib sandwiches. I couldn’t eat enough ribs while I was in Detroit. And while on the road my son told me a story of an entrepreneur who began selling ribs out of his yard and eventually turned his back yard into a real restaurant. I like listening to those kind of 
stories about people who do unique things just because they are forced to and some how become successful by having done so.
I pray that the woes of loosing a job or trying to find a job in this tight job market are not yours. But if so…always keep in mind that when one door closes…another opens. We all possess the powers and skills to become successful in this life. It only gets down to…how much do you want it? And are you willing to make the sacrifices to make it happen?
Success is not cheap and it does not come over-night. You have to fight for success…but it is achievable.
And when I say ‘that success is not cheap’…I do not mean in the monetary sense.
Many times you just have to get started whether you have the money or not. Don’t wait on money…you’ll never do anything sitting around waiting on the money to come. Get started now. The money will come…but you must get started. And along the way you will begin to develop relationships and other avenues that will supercede your lack of finances…and have more value to you and your business.
Well, God bless…and I am hoping you have a beautiful day. ©2008
Add a comment July 9, 2008
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